Monrovia-Nov. 7/24: Hundreds of visually-impaired Liberians using the Christian Association for Blind Resources Center as home and school gathered here at their seaside campus for a different kind of celebration-the rededication of their campus that had received a massive facelift from the Joseph Nyuma Boakai Foundation.
The campus sits on several acres of land, in addition to a huge swath of swamp land that residents at this resource center are cultivating to plan crops and vegetables. It consists of dormitories for both men and women as well as boys and girls, a moderate cafeteria, kitchen and classrooms where braiding and academic lessons are taught to the blind.
President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, whose foundation spearheaded the campus renovation project over several months at a cost of over US $250,000, according to the JNB Foundation Executive Director Mr. Jackson K. George, joyously led the center’s dedicatory ceremonies, cutting the robin placed to the hall hosting the classrooms.
In his speech President Boakai maintained his lifelong dream has been to help fight for the restoration of the rights of disabled people in Liberian society. The goal, he explained, has been to shift from a welfare approach to fighting for the rights of People With Disability (PWDs), this includes advocating for equal opportunities for them.
He recounted how the center’s occupants had been exposed to all sorts of dangers such as criminal activities due to the buildings’ poor structural conditions, prior to his foundation’s move to carry out renovation there.
“The first time I came here with food I shed tears. They told me rough stole our food last night, and the faces of adults and children looked sad,” the president, whose late mother had experienced disability at some point before her passing, told a huge gathering.
“When God puts you out there, help people,” he stressed. In other words, Pres. Boakai said, if God puts you in a place of power and authority, you must help others.
Among his many contributions, he pointed to a clinic on Peace Island built by his foundation plus “six ferries” also brought into the country and distributed around as part of their efforts to help change peoples’ lives in Liberia. “This is what I enjoy doing,” he emphasized.
Turning to the resource center, he expressed hope that the center would serve as a place where “Blind People hope will be restored.”
The Joseph Nyuma Boakai Foundation, accordingly, is committed to empowering communities through integrated development initiatives, with the goals of enhancing livelihoods of people, as well as promoting social equity, and building resilient societies.
